Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 26, 1945)

Page scan 00032 from Canadian Film Weekly

Record Details:

Title:
Canadian Film Weekly
Date:
Dec 26, 1945
Volume:
Canadian Film Weekly (Dec 26, 1945)
Leaf #:
00032
Language:
English
Subjects:
Motion Pictures, Film Industry Trade Magazine",Canad
Collection:
Global Cinema, Canada, and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library, Canadian Picture Pioneers, Paul Moore and Jessica Whitehead
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:

Canadian Film Weekly

  • Editor: Hye Bossin (1942-64)
  • Renamed Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly (1965-69, editor: Stan Helleur)
  • Renamed Candian Film Weekly(1970, editor: Ed Hocura)

Canadian Film Weekly (1942-70) was edited by Hye Bossin and published by Film Publications of Canada, Ltd., wholly owned by leading exhibitor, Nat Taylor. In the late 1930s, Taylor was head of the Independent Theatre Association and his Toronto-based chain, Twinex-Century (Twentieth Century), was the largest independent circuit in the country. In 1941, however, he negotiated for chain affiliation with upstart Canadian Odeon before leveraging a better deal and greater booking control with nationally-dominant Famous Players Canada, Ltd. No longer independent, he took ownership of the Independent Theatre Association’s semi-monthly magazine, The Canadian Motion Picture Exhibitor (1940-41), installed Hye Bossin as editor, and laid plans to relaunch in January 1942 under a new name, Canadian Film Weekly. This enduring key publication was no longer solely focused on independent exhibitors but instead covered the entire industry on a national scale–exhibition, distribution and production–with some attention given to studio news from New York and Hollywood.

Bossin was a vibrant writer with a canny way with words, admired in the industry in the United States as well as Canada. He was one of a large family who lived above their father’s secondhand shop in the Jewish “ward” downtown in Toronto. His older brother was a bookie with ties to the underground; his younger brother was a famous journalist, protégé of Walter Winchell, and Hollywood screenwriter. In contrast, Hye spent nearly two decades learning the publishing trade in a printers’ shop before trying a stint as a Hollywood publicist, then writing a column for the Toronto Star Weekly before taking Taylor’s offer to edit the Film Weekly. Bossin was central to the creation of the Canadian Film Archive, the Canadian Film Awards, and he wrote some of the first histories of early cinema in Canada, published in the first volumes of the annual Canadian Film Weekly Year Book (1951-70).

In 1957, the Film Weekly had incorporated the rival Canadian Moving Picture Digest (1917-57), and began dating its start to that paper’s earlier start as the Canadian Universal Bulletin (1915-18). Subsequent variants of the Canadian Film Weekly and its yearbooks always claimed their roots all the way back to 1915 and the origins of the film industry trade press in Canada. After Bossin died in 1964, the Weekly’s new editor, Stan Helleur, renamed the magazine Canadian Film & TV Bi-Weekly, scaling back the pace of publishing but adding a purview for television and broadcasting. The annual was renamed similarly, its subtitle amended to “Year Book of the Canadian Entertainment Industry.” An attempted renewal to weekly format in 1970, edited by Ed Hocura, was short-lived and Nat Taylor decided instead to relaunch under an entirely new title, Canadian Film Digest (1971-77) and Canadian Film Digest Yearbook (1971-86).

– Paul Moore, March 2024

Further Reading

  • Bossin, Hye. “Canada and the Film: The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry.” In Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry, 21-41. Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951.
  • Moore, Paul. “Chronicling a National History: Hye Bossin’s Canadian Film Weekly and Year Book.” In Eric Hoyt and Kelley Conway, eds., Global Movie Magazines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2024.

Date Added:
August 22, 2024
Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

© J. ARTHUR RANK Visited Canada and with Paul Nathanson inaugurated Odeon Movie Clubs for Young Canadians. 1944 December B & L-deal with N.W. Mason for houses belonging to Roseland Theatre Company, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, for $75,000 is held up when directors prove controlling interest in court. H. G. Stevenson, Alberta exhibitor, buys Princess and Strand theatres, Prince George, British Columbia, from P & G Company through Levi Graham, Harry G. Perry and J. C. McKenzie. New Massey Hall to be built on different Toronto location by public subscription and will con tain finest projection equipment. ° Arthur Milligan, Imperial, elected president of Toronto Local 173, IATSE, defeating Dave Siegal, Casino. Superior Operating Company, Limited, eight-theatre Quebec circuit owned by Ben Garson and Jules Laine, bought out by Odeon Theatres of Canada. Campaign for the Canadian Motion Picture Industry Benevolent Fund launched at an industry dinner at the King Edward Hotel, Toronto, with J.J. Fitzgibbons and Paul Nathanson acting as co-chairmen. Decision reached to organize & Toronto tent of the Variety Clubs of America. 1944-45 Pat Drohan, manager of the Capitol, Chatham, Ontario, dies suddenly. Matt Park, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, re-elected president of Alberta Theatres Association. Irvin (Babe) Coval, Warner Brothers Montreal branch manager, appointed district manager for Trinidad, British West Indies, by Wolfe Cohen, formerly Canadian general manager, now of the foreign department. There were 1,286 theatres Served by Canada’s six distribution centres in 1944. 1945 January Famous Players acquires interest in F. G. Spencer Oompany Limited, 16-theatre Maritime circuit, with direction remaining in the hands of F. G. Spencer, president of the circuit. Ontario exhibitors protest possibility of re-introduction of amusement tax by Provincial government. Labor bodies join in opposition. Five-year deal between Famous Players and Franklin & Hersch JOHN J. FITZGIBBONS Elected Chief Barker of Toronto Tent, No. 28 of Variety Clubs of America, first Canadian unit. Paul Nathanson is assistant chief barker. orn, seven-theatre Maritime circuit, ends and is not renewed. American Performing Right Society rejoins Canadian Performing Right Society after a year of separation and loses identity. Quebec Court of Appeals rules that claim of Kent Theatres Limited, United Amusement unit, for use of Warner Brothers’ product, must be settled by Wartime Prices and Trade Board. Claim and damage suit against United Amusements and Warners dropped when Kent acquired by Odeon Theatres. Gratten Kiely succeeds Irvin (Babe) Coval as Montreal branch manager for Warners. Twentieth Century-Fox’s 1944 rentals reached an all-time high of $80,000,000. Five Manitoba theatres of Mr. and Mrs. M. G. Peebles sold to a western syndicate in which Harry Philet and Noel Forest have important interests. D. C. Coleman, Montreal, president, Canadian Pacific Railway; R. V. LeSueur, Toronto; John Davis, London, England; and Leonard W. Brockington, KC, Ottawa, elected directors of Odeon Theatres of Canada Limited NAT A. TAYLOR Announced more extensive partnership with Famous Players in a number of exhibition ventures and renewal of deal by Twinex Century Theatres, a ran, j CHARLES CHAPLIN Former Montreal branch manager for United Artists who succeeded the late A.J. Jeffery as Canadian division chief. and General Theatre Corporation Limited, representing the Rank interests. Odeon Theatres enters into partnership with A. I. Garson, St. John, New Brunswick, for development of a Maritime chain of theatres, with Garson as Maritime manager. Projectionists union and exhibitors co-operate with Rehabilitation Commission of the Dominion-Provincial War Emergency Training Program to give veterans of World War II an opportunity to train as projectionists. Between 25 and 30 men taking this training in Ontario. Twenty fifth anniversary of Famous Players Canadian Corporation celebrated across the Dominion. “Balkan Powder Keg,” National Film Board short, taken out of circulation after its initial playdate at request of Ottawa government. Quebec government order cancels Sunday stage shows in the province but motion picture theatres remain unaffected. February Haskell M. Masters severs connections with Nathanson interests by resigning as vice-president and managing director of Odeon Theatres of Canada, and (Continued on Following Pages)